Meeting of the minds

It’s not clear that the proposed constitutional amendment to abolish property taxes in Ohio will ever make the ballot. But the citizens’ campaign behind it is still trying to persuade an undecided voter.

Leaders of Citizens for Property Tax Reform, the group behind the amendment, met with Vivek Ramaswamy last Friday at the Republican governor candidate’s home in suburban Columbus. 

Brian Massie, the amendment campaign’s leader, said he and others involved in the effort talked with Ramaswamy about various proposals to reduce property taxes, including the proposed amendment itself. They also asked Ramaswamy about his campaign promise to abolish Ohio’s income tax, which generates about $10.1 billion of Ohio’s $45.4 billion in annual revenue, and how that would square with abolishing property taxes, which would cost schools and other local governments $24 billion. 

The group asked Ramaswamy to sign their petition, and Ramaswamy said he’d get back to them within a week or two, according to Massie.

“He was noncommittal, other than he certainly said that he understands our position,” Massie said. “And let’s say we’re not totally apart.” 

The meeting came together after a petitioner for the property tax amendment ran into a Ramaswamy campaign official and requested a meeting. Massie said other state officials have given his group the cold shoulder, and he’s glad Ramaswamy took the time to talk.

Ramaswamy has said Ohio’s property taxes need to go down, although exactly how far he would go isn’t clear. He called for abolishing property taxes at his campaign launch event in February 2025 but has since revised his stump speech to simply describe his plans to reduce them. That hasn’t stopped the Ohio Democratic Party from describing the concept of property tax abolishment as “Vivek Ramaswamy’s tax on working families,” a reference to the massive tax shift that likely would have to occur to keep schools and other government services funded if the measure were to pass. 

Ramaswamy campaign spokesperson Evan Machan had this to say about the meeting:

“From day one, Vivek has made property tax reform a top priority, and he is committed to hearing all perspectives on the issue,” Machan said. “Last Friday, he met with this group to discuss the rapid rise in property taxes and the growing burden on Ohio families. He believes meaningful reform is overdue and is committed to delivering real property tax relief so Ohioans can keep more of their hard-earned money.”

As a reminder, the amendment campaign is working to collect 413,487 voter signatures, including a minimum amount from 44 Ohio counties. If it can do this by July 1, the measure will appear on the November ballot. The campaign hasn’t yet shown it has the resources typically needed to accomplish this work.

Massie declined to say how many signatures his campaign has gathered. He said his group still hasn’t received any major financial support, although it recently received an “overture” from one potential donor, he said.

Trump calls to end ‘no excuse’ mail ballots in Ohio and other states

State officials are defending Ohio’s system of allowing no-excuse mail voting as President Donald Trump calls to ban the practice nationwide.

Signal asked top state officials and candidates for secretary of state, Ohio’s top elections official, about Trump’s latest demand to end “crooked mail-in ballots except for illness, disability, military or travel” during his State of the Union address last week. Doing so would dramatically change Ohio’s system of mail voting, which for 20 years has allowed voters to cast a ballot by mail without a stated reason. Trump also has telegraphed that he may act unilaterally to impose new national voting restrictions if Congress fails to act.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican who is running for state auditor this year, supports Ohio’s current system, according to spokesperson Ben Kindel.

“When done right, voting early by mail has proven to be effective, efficient and secure,” Kindel said. “Ohio has the right checks and balances in place to keep mail-in voting accountable, but other states don’t. That’s what we should be focused on fixing.”

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine made a similar defense of Ohio’s existing system without criticizing Trump’s proposal outright. 

“We’ll deal with that if that does in fact pass,” DeWine said Wednesday. 

House Speaker Matt Huffman, also a Republican, on Wednesday reiterated his longstanding view that state legislatures have sweeping authority to determine the “time, place and manner” of congressional elections.

“It’s a broad palette, if you will, of different kinds of questions, and so we’d ultimately have to see … what Congress would do, and what the president would do,” Huffman said. 

Republican Ohio lawmakers complied the last time the president demanded the state tighten its voting procedures. In response to a legal threat from the Trump Administration, lawmakers in November swiftly passed a law requiring all mail ballots arrive by Election Day to be counted – ending the four-day post-Election Day “grace period.” DeWine “reluctantly” signed it despite previously saying in 2023 that he’d oppose any future elections restrictions.

In an interview, state Rep. Allison Russo, a Democratic candidate for secretary of state, said she hears from voters “constantly” who are deeply concerned that Trump plans to interfere with the 2026 election.

Click here to read more about what Russo had to say about Trump’s proposal, and what other Democratic and Republican candidates for Ohio Secretary of State think about it.

From 1 Capitol Square 

Lawmakers are in Columbus for the month before they break in April through mid-May. Behind the scenes, they’re working on the “capital budget,” one of Ohio’s five major state budget bills. This one is focused on bond-funded brick-and-mortar projects in members’ districts. Details will emerge soon. 

On the floor, the Ohio Senate gave final approval to a law banning local communities from implementing ranked-choice voting. The measure now is headed to DeWine’s desk.

Here’s what else is moving at the Statehouse:

• The Ohio House Technology and Innovation Committee voted Tuesday to advance legislation that would create a special panel to study data center policy and offer recommendations in six months. The vote comes as House Speaker Matt Huffman said he’s making final preparations to once again ax a longstanding sales tax exemption for data centers, overturning a veto from Gov. Mike DeWine last summer. Final approval for the data center study commission, as well as the veto override vote, both could happen by the end of the month, Huffman said.
• That same committee voted to pass legislation once again seeking to crack down on minors’ access to internet porn.
• The House Energy Committee passed a bill to regulate submetering in Ohio for the first time. Critics say the industry increases utility costs for tens of thousands of renters with no value added. But Democrats, and one major utility, questioned whether the law should allow the submetering industry to exist at all.
• The Senate Armed Services, Veterans Affairs and Public Safety Committee voted out legislation that would remove firearm mufflers or suppressors from the classification of dangerous ordnance.

The monthly gas bill is too damned high 

You probably don’t need us to tell you that monthly gas bills are way up. They’re up in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and everywhere else in the state. 

Jake wanted to know why (his bill went crazy, too) and wrote about what he found. 

Statewide, gas bills have doubled since 2020, according to Public Utilities Commission of Ohio cost data. Since 2024 alone, they’re up about 84%. Experts say that’s because cold weather and industrial growth increased aggregate demand. That means higher supply costs, higher unit costs, and more traffic in the system. Plus, state-approved fees for the gas utilities that deliver it from suppliers to customers have climbed $15 to $20 a month in the past few years. 

After we published the story, readers told us they’re feeling the pinch, reporting gas bills as high as $300.

American Electric Power is trying to go nuclear in Columbus 

In other energy news, Jake wrote about American Electric Power, a politically connected electric utility in Columbus, shopping around a bill to once again allow utilities to own nuclear generation facilities.

A lawmaker backing the idea said customers won’t get stuck covering utilities’ losses on the plants. But the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, the Ohio Manufacturers Association, the Electric Power Supply Association and the Ohio Environmental Council, via their officials, all insisted that’s not true.

And we have some fresh news since we published this story Monday: On Wednesday, DeWine said he met with folks Tuesday “who are talking about nuclear right here in the state of Ohio,” although he was talking about a uranium enrichment plant in Piketon owned by Centrus Energy.

Also, Senate President Matt Huffman poured a fresh dose of cold water on the proposal.

“We are not going to return to a time when ratepayers pay utilities to create generation, whether it’s nuclear power, whatever kind of power that’s favored,” he said.

In the news

Accused former FirstEnergy exec speaks: Mike Dowling, a longtime FirstEnergy lobbyist and executive until he was fired, was first accused of bribery back in July 2020. For six years, he has avoided any public comment about his role alongside ex-CEO Chuck Jones in allegedly paying off a top utility regulator in Ohio. Jurors recently heard excerpts from a deposition he gave, walking jurors through different texts he wrote, including one referring to desired legislation as “greased.”

Ohio GOP leadership shakeup: The Ohio Republican Party soon will hold an internal election to choose a new Republican National Committee representative, after longtime RNC Committeeman Jim Dicke announced his resignation. As Andrew writes, two plugged-in county GOP chairmen, Tony Schroeder and Dave Johnson, are among those considering running for the role.

How much are Ohio universities spending on campus speakers: State law now requires Ohio’s 14 universities to publicly share who they’re inviting to speak on campus and how much they’re paid. Compliance varies widely. Also, see how much your campus is spending.